As cellular telephones become more technically advanced, they invariably incorporate more features and applications that increase communication capabilities of a cellular telephone user. New features and applications generally increase in number and complexity commensurate with technical advancements that enable such features. One of the most significant technical advancements in cellular telephone technology has been the transition from a voice-only communication platform to a voice and data communication platform. The transition from a voice-only platform to a voice and data platform in mobile communication technology has introduced a very rich set of features and applications to cellular telephones that were traditionally available only with a personal computer or similar device. Now, however, with the ability to transmit data over broadband mobile communication networks, telephone subscribers expect the capabilities traditionally available from personal computers to also be available on cellular telephones.
Because a cellular telephone is a much more mobile (and consequently smaller) device than most computers, several challenges are introduced when features traditionally implemented on a personal computer are available on a cellular phone. One challenge is to display advanced features on a small display screen. The relatively small display area of mobile communication devices can make displaying and accessing the features a challenge.
The average cellular device user desires fast and intuitive access to common features available on a device, and at the same time does not want to be overwhelmed by a complex graphical user interface (GUI). It can be difficult to implement a user interface that provides direct access to a device's features in a straightforward and intuitive manner. Cellular phone and cellular phone service providers are often required to ‘bury’ features on lower logical layers to avoid overwhelming users with the quantity of graphical icons presented on a mobile-sized display. Consequently, many features that might distinguish one provider's service or device from another's are unnoticed by many users. Even worse, a provider's device or service may overwhelm a large segment of users and be undesirable to them.
To further complicate typical problems, marketing studies have shown that many users expect to interact with features and applications on mobile devices in a manner comparable to their own experience on a personal computer, despite the smaller display size of a mobile communication device, and despite the fact that experiences with computing devices differ widely. Many solutions have been presented to solve this problem, but the complexity of the problem can outpace available solutions during periods of rapid technological improvement.